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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Civil War veteran John Carter fighting 16 feet tall green aliens and saving a super hot babe princess is not nearly as fun to read as I had hoped.
I think the curse to reading A Princess of Mars nowadays is that it was so influential, its themes have been executed by much more talented writers who let their freak flags fly. While Burroughs's imagination made a fascinating world, he doesn't have the writing chops here to make it work. The dialogue is clunky, the plot moves in sudden jerks, and almost all of the conflict is entirely dependent on whether John Carter feels like doing something.
Therein lies my big problem with this book: the big dumb hero from Old Virginny himself. He is so darn obnoxiously perfect: he can kill with one punch, he can perfectly dodge a lethal blow, and really the only thing stopping him from tearing all of Mars a new one is some cockamamie sense of honor. And almost the entire story is from his perspective! How can you not be endeared by a hero who nonstop brags about himself?
What really womps is the beginning and end of the book are actually...pretty cool. When I noticed that the end was heading towards a possibly tremendous anticlimax, I was genuinely astonished Burroughs was willing to go that route. But they're so cool that they feel detached from the meat in the middle, which is mostly aimless world building. Even a cool subplot involving love, betrayal, and vengeance among the 16 foot tall green men of Thark ends up fizzling...because it doesn't involve John Carter so why the hell should he care on concentrating on that? He's gotta talk about how in love he is with that hot alien babelicious princess he barely knows.
Should you take this book very seriously? No. The author didn't intend that anyway. It's a pulpy sci-fi tale meant to be enjoyed like candy. And I dig that some people love it for the strange alien world and goofy cliched plot. I just can't recommend it when its technical flaws kill most of the fun you can find elsewhere.
I think the curse to reading A Princess of Mars nowadays is that it was so influential, its themes have been executed by much more talented writers who let their freak flags fly. While Burroughs's imagination made a fascinating world, he doesn't have the writing chops here to make it work. The dialogue is clunky, the plot moves in sudden jerks, and almost all of the conflict is entirely dependent on whether John Carter feels like doing something.
Therein lies my big problem with this book: the big dumb hero from Old Virginny himself. He is so darn obnoxiously perfect: he can kill with one punch, he can perfectly dodge a lethal blow, and really the only thing stopping him from tearing all of Mars a new one is some cockamamie sense of honor. And almost the entire story is from his perspective! How can you not be endeared by a hero who nonstop brags about himself?
What really womps is the beginning and end of the book are actually...pretty cool. When I noticed that the end was heading towards a possibly tremendous anticlimax, I was genuinely astonished Burroughs was willing to go that route. But they're so cool that they feel detached from the meat in the middle, which is mostly aimless world building. Even a cool subplot involving love, betrayal, and vengeance among the 16 foot tall green men of Thark ends up fizzling...because it doesn't involve John Carter so why the hell should he care on concentrating on that? He's gotta talk about how in love he is with that hot alien babelicious princess he barely knows.
Should you take this book very seriously? No. The author didn't intend that anyway. It's a pulpy sci-fi tale meant to be enjoyed like candy. And I dig that some people love it for the strange alien world and goofy cliched plot. I just can't recommend it when its technical flaws kill most of the fun you can find elsewhere.
adventurous
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Audiobook: If you're looking for a good free audiobook version of A Princess of Mars, I can't recommend this LibriVox recording by Mark Nelson enough. He was a fantastic performer, and I wish he had recorded more of the Barsoom books, because I would definitely continue on with the series in audio version if he had.
On the Novel: I picked up A Princess of Mars because John Carter was coming to theaters and I don't like to watch the movie before I read the book. It's definitely not the science fiction we're accustomed to these days - it's more of an adventure story that happens to take place on another world, the science isn't as believable or well-thought out as more modern science fiction. But overall, I really enjoyed it and will continue with the series... eventually.
On the Novel: I picked up A Princess of Mars because John Carter was coming to theaters and I don't like to watch the movie before I read the book. It's definitely not the science fiction we're accustomed to these days - it's more of an adventure story that happens to take place on another world, the science isn't as believable or well-thought out as more modern science fiction. But overall, I really enjoyed it and will continue with the series... eventually.
I enjoyed the story for the most part, but the narrator of the audiobook was not very good. He read it, more than performed it. I'm going to have to seek out a new narrator if I'm going to make it through the series.
Princess of Mars remains one of the best pulp sci-fi books ever written. like all of Burroughs writing it is a page turner that is hard to put down. Action, adventure, and derring-do are throughout, along with a surprising amount of intrigue. However, the book is let down by it's climax. What the movie adaptation did better than this book was the increased characterization of Sab Than. While most pulp villains were deliciously smug, cruel, vicious, etc.
Sab is not much of anything other than being in the way of John's romance with Dejah. When he dies and the Zodangans are defeated, it feels somewhat empty. We only cheer their destruction because they are at war with Helium, for reasons we don't even know. More time spent on crafting a worthy villain would have made this a perfect adventure novel. But perhaps this is something Burroughs developed more down the road.
Sab is not much of anything other than being in the way of John's romance with Dejah. When he dies and the Zodangans are defeated, it feels somewhat empty. We only cheer their destruction because they are at war with Helium, for reasons we don't even know. More time spent on crafting a worthy villain would have made this a perfect adventure novel. But perhaps this is something Burroughs developed more down the road.
I recently picked up my (inherited from my father) 36-year-old copy of a 100-year old story thinking I could, based upon my enjoyment of the recent film (a film people seem to really like or really hate), blow through it in a few evenings. How wrong I was.
I really, really, really wanted to like this classic sci-fi/fantasy series starter from one of the "greats", but too many of the reservations that kept me from reading it when I was younger proved to be true. Burroughs had some outstanding ideas, but he was a product of his time, and his prose and characterization suffered for it, and that takes some of the shine off this story from a contemporary setting.
Burroughs apparently read some pulp sci-fi/fantasy early in his career and decided he could do better than that bad fiction, and he probably has, but I can't imagine how tedious a "bad" story might have been in his era.
Ignoring all the (now) ridiculous scientific premises of the time that served as the foundation for speculation that life could exist on Mars (most notably, the canals of Mars), and a life that had flourished for a long, long time, Burroughs puts together an intriguing Man Outside His World, Yet Pretty Much Still in His Element story. John Carter, manly man, is transported from one world of war to another, which suits him.
Unfortunately, the book alternately (and maybe out of necessity) reads like a travelogue of exasperating descriptions and needlessly detailed dialogue. For the better part of the story, there's not much impetus driving it forward, no mission for Carter other than to look about, succumb to a murderous impulse (which he, in a fit of blinding hypocrisy, impugns in the Thark character, though he justifies it as an exhibition of human compassion--even though this is equally a mark of his societal norms as is the cruelty of the Tharks), and record what is happening around him.
Burroughs creates some fascinating creature characters, even though their nature seems to be informed by misconceptions about the mindless savagery of Native Americans and impeccable nobility of European Americans (the former are encountered once and their behavior is mimicked by Martian Thark culture). In some of these characters he boldly paints a few oddnesses, such as a compassionate Thark, which could not have entirely been a mechanism to create a guide since Deja Thoris was clearly as familiar with the world as oddball Thark, Sola. Apart from this, characters are pretty thin.
Carter himself is a man's man's man. He alternates between exasperatingly gentlemanly and abruptly violent, which makes him, from a contemporary point of view anyway, alternatively tedious and quasi-heroish-but-ultimately-too-frequently-impulsive-to-be-considered-a-safely-reasoning-guy.
The story is pretty short, clocking in on my father's 1976 printing at 159 pages, but good heavens it could have been 50 pages shorter on account of ditching some swoony flirting between man's man's man, John Carter, and petulant pay-attention-to-me-without-paying-attention-to-me princess, Deja Thoris, and snooze-inducing formal dialogue that attempts to pack as many words into a single thought as possible.
I did not hate this story, but I did find it frequently tiresome as it clung to the thriftless holdovers of storytelling from the century before (e.g., why use 3 words when you can use 30?), an indulgent style of writing that when used now seems like an attempt by the writer to prove their own verbosity at the expense of the story--not unlike this review. Writers have since become more concise in their storytelling.
This story gets points for its classic nature, its imagination, but loses some for its frequent blandness, stereotypical characters, and ship-at-anchor pacing. To Burroughs credit, it seemed clear he had the end in sight from the get-go, I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get there. Respect, Edgar Rice Burroughs. I love the concept, not so much the execution. Maybe the next few will be better.
_____
It behooves me to mention the recent film, (which, to my surprise, I enjoyed a great deal) released on roughly the centennial anniversary of story's 1912 publication. I can say without hesitation that the film improves upon the story in almost every way, largely by cutting out the chaff, providing impetus for the story, removing antiquated mindsets, fleshing out characters (most notably, Thoris is a scientist and accomplished warrior in addition to being a strong-minded and patriotic princess), injecting a bit of humor, and putting greater emphasis on Carter's superhuman characteristics.
I really, really, really wanted to like this classic sci-fi/fantasy series starter from one of the "greats", but too many of the reservations that kept me from reading it when I was younger proved to be true. Burroughs had some outstanding ideas, but he was a product of his time, and his prose and characterization suffered for it, and that takes some of the shine off this story from a contemporary setting.
Burroughs apparently read some pulp sci-fi/fantasy early in his career and decided he could do better than that bad fiction, and he probably has, but I can't imagine how tedious a "bad" story might have been in his era.
Ignoring all the (now) ridiculous scientific premises of the time that served as the foundation for speculation that life could exist on Mars (most notably, the canals of Mars), and a life that had flourished for a long, long time, Burroughs puts together an intriguing Man Outside His World, Yet Pretty Much Still in His Element story. John Carter, manly man, is transported from one world of war to another, which suits him.
Unfortunately, the book alternately (and maybe out of necessity) reads like a travelogue of exasperating descriptions and needlessly detailed dialogue. For the better part of the story, there's not much impetus driving it forward, no mission for Carter other than to look about, succumb to a murderous impulse (which he, in a fit of blinding hypocrisy, impugns in the Thark character, though he justifies it as an exhibition of human compassion--even though this is equally a mark of his societal norms as is the cruelty of the Tharks), and record what is happening around him.
Burroughs creates some fascinating creature characters, even though their nature seems to be informed by misconceptions about the mindless savagery of Native Americans and impeccable nobility of European Americans (the former are encountered once and their behavior is mimicked by Martian Thark culture). In some of these characters he boldly paints a few oddnesses, such as a compassionate Thark, which could not have entirely been a mechanism to create a guide since Deja Thoris was clearly as familiar with the world as oddball Thark, Sola. Apart from this, characters are pretty thin.
Carter himself is a man's man's man. He alternates between exasperatingly gentlemanly and abruptly violent, which makes him, from a contemporary point of view anyway, alternatively tedious and quasi-heroish-but-ultimately-too-frequently-impulsive-to-be-considered-a-safely-reasoning-guy.
The story is pretty short, clocking in on my father's 1976 printing at 159 pages, but good heavens it could have been 50 pages shorter on account of ditching some swoony flirting between man's man's man, John Carter, and petulant pay-attention-to-me-without-paying-attention-to-me princess, Deja Thoris, and snooze-inducing formal dialogue that attempts to pack as many words into a single thought as possible.
I did not hate this story, but I did find it frequently tiresome as it clung to the thriftless holdovers of storytelling from the century before (e.g., why use 3 words when you can use 30?), an indulgent style of writing that when used now seems like an attempt by the writer to prove their own verbosity at the expense of the story--not unlike this review. Writers have since become more concise in their storytelling.
This story gets points for its classic nature, its imagination, but loses some for its frequent blandness, stereotypical characters, and ship-at-anchor pacing. To Burroughs credit, it seemed clear he had the end in sight from the get-go, I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get there. Respect, Edgar Rice Burroughs. I love the concept, not so much the execution. Maybe the next few will be better.
_____
It behooves me to mention the recent film, (which, to my surprise, I enjoyed a great deal) released on roughly the centennial anniversary of story's 1912 publication. I can say without hesitation that the film improves upon the story in almost every way, largely by cutting out the chaff, providing impetus for the story, removing antiquated mindsets, fleshing out characters (most notably, Thoris is a scientist and accomplished warrior in addition to being a strong-minded and patriotic princess), injecting a bit of humor, and putting greater emphasis on Carter's superhuman characteristics.
Published in 1917, this is early pulp fiction, a swashbuckler written for the masses. It's a typical planetary romance, a genre set on an alien world, with burly heroes, damsels in distress, and a focus more more swords than on spaceships.
John Carter is presented as a believable and typically heroic figure of the times. He's tall, strong, a gold prospector and Indian fighter, impetuous, a veteran of the Civil War, and skilled with rifle and sword. Dejah Thoris is a pulp fiction heroine - small, frail, helpless, and always being saved by Carter. The Martians are portrayed as very similar to the image of the First Nations at the time. They are nomadic, almost naked, ride their mounts bareback without reins, and use rifles and spears. The men are fierce warriors, and the women do all the household chores.
Much of the science was based on things new in 1917, such as radium for bullets, or carborundum for the building blocks of Zodanga. Much was close enough to be believable, such as rifles of an aluminum steel alloy, huge white apes, chariots, and airships firing broadsides like huge sailing ships.
America was also in the midst of WW1 in 1917, so part of the story discusses the futility of races that have warred for each other for ages. With Carter's encouragement, the leaders do talk of peace, but to no avail, as the younger natives want war.
Burroughs does add in some more exotic elements like flying sleds and ninth rays, but it's added to a solid base , all written for the masses.
John Carter is presented as a believable and typically heroic figure of the times. He's tall, strong, a gold prospector and Indian fighter, impetuous, a veteran of the Civil War, and skilled with rifle and sword. Dejah Thoris is a pulp fiction heroine - small, frail, helpless, and always being saved by Carter. The Martians are portrayed as very similar to the image of the First Nations at the time. They are nomadic, almost naked, ride their mounts bareback without reins, and use rifles and spears. The men are fierce warriors, and the women do all the household chores.
Much of the science was based on things new in 1917, such as radium for bullets, or carborundum for the building blocks of Zodanga. Much was close enough to be believable, such as rifles of an aluminum steel alloy, huge white apes, chariots, and airships firing broadsides like huge sailing ships.
America was also in the midst of WW1 in 1917, so part of the story discusses the futility of races that have warred for each other for ages. With Carter's encouragement, the leaders do talk of peace, but to no avail, as the younger natives want war.
Burroughs does add in some more exotic elements like flying sleds and ninth rays, but it's added to a solid base , all written for the masses.
Ugh. This was just awful. Even at just 160 pages, it was a slog to get through. I've read science fiction from this period (and older) before, so I understand the writing style is different. Even so, this just seemed badly written. The sentences were clunky, the narrative was haphazard, basically bad in every way.
I was hoping for an exciting sci fi adventure, along the lines of [a:Robert E. Howard|1002|Sophocles|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1195014481p2/1002.jpg]'s Conan adventures, but in space. This may have had aspirations to that, but it wasn't nearly as involving or entertaining. I haven't read any of Burrough's Tarzan stories, but I can only hope they are better than this.
My interest in this book came from the movie adaptation that is currently in production. I think the movie could still be good despite the book, as long as they just pluck key ideas and then write their own screenplay. Maybe.
I was hoping for an exciting sci fi adventure, along the lines of [a:Robert E. Howard|1002|Sophocles|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1195014481p2/1002.jpg]'s Conan adventures, but in space. This may have had aspirations to that, but it wasn't nearly as involving or entertaining. I haven't read any of Burrough's Tarzan stories, but I can only hope they are better than this.
My interest in this book came from the movie adaptation that is currently in production. I think the movie could still be good despite the book, as long as they just pluck key ideas and then write their own screenplay. Maybe.
